Poor Little Teen
by Rondabunny
Summary: What would House do, if Thirteen commited a suicide?
1. Chapter 1

**Poor Little**** Teen**

**by Rondabunny**

**Thirteen:**

Work. It keeps me busy the whole day long. Patients, pain, House's lame jokes. It makes me forget myself, forget I'm living, forget I'm dying… But when it ends I'm alone again. People are running, rushing in the street full of unsolved problems, full of hope and sorrow, full with the feeling that there is someone waiting, someone caring for them. I… I stay there and watch them go by. They are too busy to notice, to notice a face in the crowd. I have to feel alive, go into a bar, take a drink, dance. Light drugs, more alcohol to ease the feeling of emptiness in my soul, to forget that mom is long gone, dad's gone, now Kutner. Kissing, soft lips licking my breasts, soft hands caressing my body. I shiver. Do I need this? Touching, melting, my skin's burning, but I don't feel anything. My mind is empty, I'm cold.

"_Hey! Are you with me or I have to do everything alone?"_ – says a blonde bimbo sitting on the couch right next to me. I'm barely naked. My shirt is on the floor together with my bra. She even managed to unfasten my belt. Why is she here? Another bimbo for a night, another crap to fill the blank, to fill the vast gap in my soul.

"_Sorry. I can't,"_ – I apologize. Why should I? To hear: _"Go to hell f….ng bitch!"_ to watch her dress up and leave my room. She doesn't understand. She is like the others wants to spend a merry night. She doesn't feel I suffer. She doesn't know that my father died two weeks ago, that my friend committed a suicide nobody knows why. She doesn't know I'm dying. Each day is closer to death, to emptiness, to blackness. There is nobody to listen.

I lie down on the couch and hug a pillow. I don't want to cry, I'm too drunk for it. I don't want to sleep either. I try to remember how I used to play basketball with my father. He laughed when I couldn't take the ball. He praised me when I shoot it right into the basket. He made me happy as only he could. Now everything's over. I am what I am - a bisexual bitch dying from Huntington's. I am sick and tired. I don't want to be a looser. If Kutner was brave enough to do that I am bolder. I am too tired of waiting, of making others believe I am not a coward. I am human. It means mortal…

**House:**

Another day at work. Oh, this stupid leg is killing me! It's aching like hell! One step, two steps, three…

"_Hello everybody!"_ – my bag flies across the room to plop into the arm-chair. My guys are in the office. Taub - vacantly starring into the window, Foreman - finishing a report and Thirteen - studying a record book, and one more empty chair in the room. A chair for an idiot, my idiot - little, filthy Kutner. It was my mistake. I did a lot of mistakes in my life but that was a hugest one. I… I – the brain of the company didn't notice. I didn't see he's a suicidal freak. Maybe because he wasn't. He was a silly kid, who likes to play with dangerous toys, but he wasn't grieving, he wasn't in pain, he wasn't even pessimistic. He was an inventor, a crazy inventor but No, he wasn't suicidal. I could have noticed. I could have done something but… There is always a "but"… Who's next? Taub? No, he is a materialistic pragmatic, too predictable. Foreman? Too smart to do stupid things. Thirteen? A woman-puzzle. Why did I hire her? Another mistake? Yes, but now it's too late to go back.

So, what do we have today? Thirteen, Thirteen… I look carefully. Her face is like a book even if she did everything possible to hide it under a mask. What do I read? A sleepless night, too much to drink, drugs for sure. Sex? Maybe. These cold, grey eyes are staring at me again and I can read nothing more. No thoughts, no dreams, no future, even right here right now is vague. Sometimes I want her to be like Cameron just a sweet girl, caring too much, open and kind. I knew how to scold and how to protect her. But Thirteen… Everything is complicated with her. When I get an inch closer she runs away on a mile. I have to watch her closer or I will lose this one forever…again…

One more day ended, one more patient healed. Everything went OK. (House watched Thirteen emptying her locker. He noticed something unusual.) Was it a syringe in her hand? Is she up to something?

She looked around her empty apartment, took off her coat and poured herself whiskey. She sat on her couch for awhile remembering things happened here before and sipping her drink. Then she took two syringes from her bag and put up her sleeve ready to make an injection.

"_That's it!"_ she said the needle an inch apart from her vein. Suddenly someone broke into her bedroom and took away the syringe. She turned to face the man. Her steel grey eyes met his ocean-blue and she shook.

"_House, what are you doing here?"_ - she asked looking coldly at him but inside she was scared to death, because he figured her out. Thirteen freaked out like a little child when her dad found her smoking in a secret place which she only knew.

"_Foreman told me about lesbian party in here. Didn't want to be late,"__-_ he mocked as usual.

"_House, get out!"_ – she said searching the other syringe on her dressing-table but he already took it.

"_Sit down,"_ – he demanded. She sat on her bed trying not to look at him. _"Relanium and insulin not too smart of you but that will do. What sex, drugs and rock-n-roll don't work anymore?" _

She sat silently. He stood there starring at her. She didn't move, she didn't cry just sat on her bed wanting him to disappear, wanting to shout, to push him out of here. The man sat beside her and hugged her, pulled her closer to feel his coat soak from her tears.

"_I can't do this anymore!"_ – she sobbed.

"_There is nothing out there, believe me, I have seen it. The only reality is this hell we are living in, there is nothing else,"_ – House tried to hush her as he could.

She looked up at him and said: _"It is nothing left for me here. The only person who cared is gone. My father's dead."_

"_My poor little teen, you're selfish like all __the kids. If I didn't give a damn, you would be lying on the floor unconscious by now,"_ – silence fell for a moment.

"_I know. Sorry to bother you,"_ - she answered struggling to sit straight away from him.

"_You don't understand anything, Remy. If I ever had a child I wanted him or her to be you__, so, intelligent, beautiful and strong,"_ – he replied standing up and taking his cane.

"_Why then__, those stupid jokes about my bisexuality and my dying every single day?"_ – she asked angrily.

"_These are two sides of your personality you are afraid of. I bet you didn't tell your father about girls and how you feel each day bringin__g you closer to the final point,"_ – he countered. _"Now you're grounded for bad behavior. You are on suicidal watch. It means everywhere you go I go with you, everything you do I watch closely. Don't even try to cheat on me or I say Cuddy and it'll be much worse."_

"_Fine, mom. May I take a shower?"_ – Thirteen asked his permission as good little kids do.

"_Not, until I check the bathroom for drugs, sharp items and electric __appliances,"_ – he said and limped to the bathroom. Hadley smiled. She took the shower after House came out off the bathroom with her hairdryer, razor and even her toothpicks. She knew that House is searching her apartment for other "suicidal things" while she was washing. She left the bathroom in her pajamas and found House sitting in her arm-chair with two glasses of whiskey in his hand. He stood up and handed her a glass of whiskey.

"_What is it? Poison?"_ – she asked him screwing up her eyes.

"_No, it'll make you sleep better."_She drank it in one long gulp. _"Now go to sleep,"_ he said watching her slip under the blanket and tucking it to make her comfortable. He turned the light off and sat back into the arm-chair.

"_Good night, House."_

"_Good night, Remy. Sleep tight," _he sipped from his glass sitting in the dark…


	2. Chapter 2

**Poor Little Teen**

**by Rondabunny**

**Chapter Two**

**[I haven't thought about continuation, but if you're so sure you need one...]**

**Thirteen:**

What time is it? No, no, I don't want to open my eyes. I know he's starring at me. He is always watching me. I feel his eyes going down my face to my body line under the blanket. I know when I open my eyes I will meet his and I don't want it. I'm too scared. It is too painful to see his cold blue piercing gaze. I wish I died yesterday. At least there would be no reality to face, nothing to regret. Now I have to deal with it somehow. His stupid sarcastic humor once again, my humiliation, torture of my colleagues everything will start all over. I need to quit, to run from them, but now all I have to do is to stand up, take a shower and go through humiliation routine. Come on! Open your eyes, Remy! You are stronger than anybody of them, you can do it! Why do I soothe myself? I am alive, I am functioning, and I am damn angry, it means a can play them like a piano.

She stood up and was really surprised not to see House in the arm-chair right in front of her bed. _"Thanks God, he's gone,"_ – she thought to herself. Remy walked barefoot into her living-room and finally she saw him there curled on her couch sound asleep. Dr. Hadley stood there for a moment enjoying the view and went to the bathroom. There was no blanket covering him but she didn't want to do it either. It was his decision to come here and save her. She didn't ask him to do it. She wanted to be alone, a safeguard wasn't in her duties. So, Remy went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

House woke up to the sound of running water. He nearly jumped from the couch. How, how could he fell asleep? Where is he? No! Where is she? He was supposed to make sure she wouldn't hurt herself. How on earth could he fell asleep like a log?! He stretched his leg, stood up and limped as fast as he could to the bathroom door. House tried it but the door was closed. He hammered on the door as if it was a drum.

"_Are you O.K. there?"_ – he asked trying to break the damn door.

"_None of you business, House!"_ – was the answer from the bathroom.

He let go of the doorknob and leaned on the wall to calm down.

**House:**

Fine. She is angry. That's fine. There are two options here. Either she is angry with me seeing her vulnerable or it's just her menstrual molimina which is much worse taking into consideration that she nearly killed herself yesterday. Thank God, I'm not a woman and my sanity doesn't coincide with the monthly period. O.K. I'll go and find something sweet and nutritious in the fridge maybe it will work.

Thirteen left the bathroom wrapped in a towel. She passed House ignoring his quizzical stare.

"_What? Haven't seen a naked woman in __the towel for a long time?"_ – The voice asked from the bedroom.

"_No, my latter theory has crashed,"_ – House answered drinking his coffee.

"_Theory about what?"_ – she asked getting dressed.

"_About why you are so angry today,"_ – he replied.

"_And what is your answer to it?"_ – Hadley asked appearing fully dressed in her kitchen in front of House.

"_It doesn't have anything in common with ice-cream,"_ – House pointed to a bucket of vanilla ice-cream on the table.

"_It definitely doesn't,"_ – she sipped her coffee and put a spoonful of ice-cream in her mouth.

"_Come on, let's go or we'll be late. You take your car and I'll follow,"_ – he told her and put his cup into the sink.

"_Wait, are you going to nurse me the whole day long?"_ – Remy looked at her boss desperately.

"_Are you going to make another attempt?"_ – he replied her question on question.

"_No."_

"_Liar,"_ – he took the cane and left the apartment.

**House in his office****:**

So, what do we have today? Foreman gave me a medical report of some stupid moron who desperately needs my diagnosis. Taub is thinking about his wife and how to live happily ever after without children. And Thirteen is already here trying to avoid my caring gaze. I have two problems to deal with. On the one hand I have a patient with a neurocirculatory dystonia and heart problem on the other hand I have Thirteen who has to be watched by somebody the whole day, maybe a week or even a month long before the moment I will be sure she won't do that enormously stupid thing again. I have one mouse and two cats to follow her, plus me as the main player, Chase, Cameron and Wilson as watchers and Cuddy as non-involved. Great, let's start the game!

**Thirteen sitting in the toilet:**

Oh, it nearly seven o'clock. Great! Maybe it will be possible for me to sneak from this hell. I knew that House is a freak but I didn't know he is this freaky! Today is a disaster. Everywhere I go I'm followed by someone. I do the examination Taub does it with me. I do the analyses Forman is chatting about something doing other analyses in the lab. I go in cafeteria and run into Chase and Cameron there. It was great that they haven't invited me to eat with them or I would get definitely sick. I have to stop this. I feel like a mouse in a trap. What the hell did I take those syringes at home? Why didn't I buy drugs as usual? An overdose is also a good decision. But no, I had to take it from here, to make House see me! Why am I so f……ly stupid?!

"_Are you still breathing in there?"_ – a man with a cane asked behind the door.

She rolled her eyes: _"Do I have a right to pee?"_

"_No__! Patients on suicidal watch can do things only if the doctor's watching!"_ – was the sarcastic reply.

She flung the door open nearly hitting him in the face: _"Is this some kind of idiotic game how-to-get-into-my-pants?"_

"_Wow! You're so self-assured you're pretty. Yes, you are hot I admit it but not for my money!" _– said House.

"_Then stop controlling me! Leave me alone!"_ – Remy tried to push him away but he stopped her by pressing her to the wall with the help of the cane.

"_Leave you to do what? To cut your veins, to jump from a roof, to drug yourself t__o death? Do I have to watch my people die? I didn't notice Kutner's depression because I was obsessed about you. I knew you would explode. I've seen it when you drugged yourself with everything which that old moron with the gun ordered. When you was on a trial I thought I could have a rest, 'cause Foreman was near but he screwed up and we had nearly lost you. You, Kutner, Cameron and others from my teams, you are like my kids. Why don't you understand this? But you, Remy, you… are the most precious one. You are intelligent, you are smart enough not to show things, you can defend yourself, you can beat anyone of them. If something happened to me I would like to see you on my place not Foreman, not Cameron or Chase but you. I can't cure Huntington's but if I could I would give my life to save you, because when I look at you I see myself. And I don't understand why did you give up on life? In eight years you have you can make much more than any ordinary man in his life. You can make them remember your personality, who you are!" _– House stepped aside to let her go.

"_I'm not like you! I won't be like you ever! You know what? I quit! Don't follow me or I call the police!" _– she turned away ready to leave.

"_You're hurting yourself, because you are always in pain like I am. You are constantly in pain because of your past and your nearest future__. You can't go anywhere. You are always alone. There is nobody to listen to you, that is why, you choose to die. Great! Go, smash your head against the wall but you must know that you life will be as unimportant as your death,"_ – House concluded. He watched her close the door behind herself. He hit the damn wall with all his might just to feel himself alive…


	3. Chapter 3

**Poor Little Teen**

**by Rondabunny**

**Chapter Three**

Thirteen went outside and looked around. Where should she go? It was evening already so all the roads were open.

**Thirteen: **

What now? To go home where even the walls look lonely or to go into a bar or maybe a dance club? Tomorrow Cuddy will find the resignation form on her table. It is nothing to worry about. Why should I? Damn hospital, damn House, damn team members. They always want to penetrate into your life even if it's useless. OK. I think the night-club will be fine. To have a drink, to dance, to pick up a girl or maybe a boy will be better? I will decide it there.

With these thoughts she stepped into the lights of the night club. She hasn't been here before but the atmosphere was great and relaxing. She ordered a drink then another one and tried to forget everything that happened in these two days. The bartender gave her a glass of margarita she hasn't ordered yet, but he said it was from a man. She looked around and saw a guy staring at her. She nodded at him and he nodded back. He seemed to be a handsome guy Hadley thought to herself but she didn't want to fall for anybody today. Remy danced for some time and drank her margarita. She felt a little bit dizzy but she ordered another glass, drank it and went out. Time flew. It was two o'clock in the morning. Dr. Hadley didn't drink too much. Remy had two beers and two margaritas and she was sober enough to remember where she parked the car. Though, poor Thirteen hasn't noticed that handsome guy following her to the underground parking lot together with two friends. She took her car keys and tried to unlock the door but suddenly somebody approached her and Remy fell on the ground beside the car unconscious.

Two hours later she woke up in some place. Her eyes were blind-folded, her mouth taped up, her hands and legs were bent to the bed. She was naked, her body was covered in bruises and who knows what other fluids than blood soiled her thighs.

"_No, no, no… No, please, no… Where am I? What the hell am I doing here?"_ – she thought trying not to scream but she couldn't help the tears soaking the blindfold.

"_What are we going to do with that slut?"_ – she heard three stoned men speak.

"_Maybe we let her free?"_ – one of the bastards made a proposition.

"_Are you crazy, Nicky?! She'll go to the police. She saw me in the club,"_ – the other man said having another shot.

"_So, what do you propose, Ricco? To kill her?"_ – the guy asked. They sat in silence for some minutes while Ricco felt the drug attacking him and making him more vulnerable.

"_No… Dad, please, help me… I don't want to die like this… Mom, dad, please, help me…"_ – Remy begged her long gone parents as if they could have protected her.

"_No, she's a beauty. Maybe somebody will want to use her in future,"_ – Ricco smirked. _"Let's hypo her and throw that garbage far from here,"_ – he concluded and gave the syringe to his partner.

Hadley felt the needle in her vein and warm embrace of coke made her forget about the mess she was in but not about everything. The dose was huge, though not too huge to forget too many hands caressing her body, disgusting, drunk breaths on her face and an unbearable pain after that.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Morning, the Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital. House entered the room and put his satchel on a chair. Taub and Foreman were sitting at the table discussing the diagnosis of their patient.

"_Hello everybody! Where is our sleeping disaster?"_ – he asked mockingly wanting to figure out where the hell is Thirteen.

Both doctors haven't even the time to open their mouths when Cuddy stormed into the office with a resignation form in her hand.

"_House, where is Dr. Hadley? What on earth did you do?!"_ – she asked giving him the form.

He read the resignation letter and gave Cuddy an innocent glance.

"_I don't know anything about it. Ask Thirteen when she comes,"_ – he said. _"If she comes,"_ – he thought to himself and it worried him.

"_Send her to my office when she will be pleased to come at work,"_ – Cuddy retorted sarcastically.

"_Anything you want my lady,"_ - House fired back watching his boss leaving the office.

"_Foreman, call Thirteen, Taub, make sure our patient won't die today__,"_ – he ordered and Taub left the room. House seemed very anxious.

"_House, what is going on?"_ – Foreman asked eager to hear the answer.

"_Will you call her or __should I make it for you?"_ – House raised his voice. They listened for the ring-tone in the receiver for a couple of minutes. _"Come on, Thirteen, pick up the damn phone,"_ – House thought.

"_She doesn't answer,"_ – Foreman said disconnecting the line. _"House, tell me what's wrong?"_ – he insisted.

Suddenly pagers of both doctors started beeping at the same time but their destinations weren't the same. Foreman hurried up to save their patient and House limped as quickly as possible to ER. Cameron waited for him. She was pale and her nerves seemed to be really at an edge. She stood there waiting for him to approach her. Cameron looked at him her eyes filling with tears.

"_House…"__-_ she filled her lungs with air to blast the news at once: _"Thirteen has been raped."_ The old man nodded what else could he do.

"_Why aren't you with her?"_ – he asked his former team member looking at the tears running down her face.

"_She's with Cuddy. Some guys found her in a street. They saw men tossing her out off the car at full__ speed,"_ – said Cameron wiping the tears with her palm. House just sighed and went farther. He opened the curtain and saw Cuddy in her doctor's smock and a nurse wiping the blood streaming down Thirteen's forehead and her left arm. She scratched badly her left side when she flew out off the car. Surprisingly she was conscious. Her lips were swollen. Her mydriatic pupils stopped at his face when he came behind the curtain. Hadley was drugged but her brain wasn't working that sober in her whole cursed life. House looked at her then at the stains of blood on the sheet that covered her body. She wasn't crying. Her eyes were dry.

"_Stop it. Tell your lawyer that I refuse medical assistance,"_ – Thirteen said in a harsh voice making attempts to sit straight and pull out the IV tubes.

"_Remy, look! I don't want to sedate you in your condition right now because I don't know what dose of drugs they've given__ to you. You're in a shock. Your ribs are broken. You're bleeding from everywhere and I promise I will bind you to this damn bed ignoring the marks on your wrists if you don't stop acting like this!" _– Dr. Cuddy proclaimed maybe too emotionally than she wanted to. House stood there looking at the scene.

"_House, get the hell out of here!"_ – Cuddy shouted at him.

"_Why? I am a doctor just like you,"_ - he exclaimed.

"_Did you hear me! I said get out, now!"_ – she screamed.

He turned to leave and one single phrase escaped his mouth: _"Remy, I'm sorry…"_

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After the stitches on Thirteen's forehead were made, the bleeding was stopped and the ribs were fixed to prevent internal bleeding or explosion of poor girl's lungs one last but the most painful thing remained – a verification of sexual violation. Cuddy took her into an examination room where they remained face to face. The whole hour while she was wiping blood and putting stitches on the younger doctor's face, Remy was silent. She only hissed slightly when the pain was too acute. Now she was sitting on the examination table gripping its edge until her knuckles went white. Cuddy put on a pair of medical gloves and looked at Hadley.

"_I don't wanna do this,"_ – Remy shook her head ready to burst into tears, - _"Please, leave me alone, I don't wanna do this."_

Cuddy looked at her with that motherly expression on her face. Her heart was tearing apart because this hospital and these doctors especially House's team were more than just good professionals, each of them was a child brought up by House under a fixed attention of Cuddy. These people were like family for her and when one of them died or was injured it was like a small half of House and Cuddy disappeared. So, she stood up and approached Thirteen.

"_Remy, listen to me, please. I will be lying if I tell you that I understand how you're feeling at this moment__. The only thing I know I have to make sure that I can cure those physical damages they've caused you. So, lie down, please,"_ – her voice was soft and firm at the same time. Cuddy took her by the shoulders and made the shaking woman lie down. Hadley obeyed as a little child obeys to her mother. Cuddy put on the sheet over Remy's body and started the examination. Only she knew how hard it was to examine the one they all liked and respected. She tried to cause as little pain as she could but even such an experienced doctor as Cuddy gasped several times during the examination. When she was done Remy lied there sobbing uncontrollably clutching the sheet in her hands. Lisa took off the gloves and threw them in rage into the waste basket. She came closer to her patient and hugged her tightly fighting the tears forming in her eyes.

House walked from one corner of his office to another waiting for the news about Thirteen's state but according his quick medical look at the ER and large stains of blood on the sheet over her body, she was damaged pretty badly. Cuddy left the examination room and asked nurses to wheel Remy to the ward and to give her a long-acting hypnotic to make her sleep as long as possible. She went to a WC and washed her face. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and closed her eyes. Lisa was tired, tired of the emotions she had to hide during the hours of examination, tired of being unattached, to behave as if she had no feelings at all, tired to see the wounds and to suture them up. She stood there for a moment with her eyes closed and then went to House's office. She found him in his small office. Taub and Foreman sat in a larger one. They looked like two puppies, which left droppings and were punished by their master. Both of them sat in silence and sadness.

"_How bad is she?"_ – House asked his boss. He noticed how hard it was even for Cuddy to do the examination.

"_She's stable, three broken ribs, concussion of the brain,__ scrapes and bruises all over the body…"_ – she took a deep breath to continue, - _"House, they tore her in two. I've put the stitches to stop the internal bleeding. Have you talked to cops?"_

"_How do you know?"- _he asked in disbelief. Cuddy just rolled her eyes. _"Yeah, there were two witnesses when those bastards pushed her off the car. One of them remembered the car and some figures on the registration number."_

"_Great,"_ – Cuddy said ready to leave.

"_Lisa… I want you to put her on suicidal watch just don't mention it in the recordings,"_ – House told her.

"_Do you think…"_

"_Yes… The resignation letter… She tried two days ago,"_ – he mentioned.

"_You knew and you haven't told me a word?!"_ – Cuddy hissed at him coming closer.

"_I'm telling you now,"_ – House answered coldly. Lisa flapped her hands, turned and left the office, banging the door behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Poor Little Teen**

**By Rondabunny**

**Chapter Four (the last chapter)**

_**It is a crossover **__**on the book "The Girl Next Door" by Jack Ketchums. The main character's name and age is changed.**_

**Thirteen:**

Dark and so cold. Where is the light? What is it? A room? I walk along the wall. It is hard maybe made of concrete and it is so cold. I come to a door. The steel door. I try to open it but it is closed. I take the doorknob in my hands and they become wet. The moisture drops from my hands to the floor. Is it the blood? Oh, know. I'm cold. I stay barefoot in the puddle of blood. There are my clothes? I hear voices, they are approaching me. They are laughing. Male voices are coming closer and closer. Blood is dropping on me from the ceiling. I feel bloody tears on my face running down to my breasts. I hear them right behind me, calling me dirty names. Don't' turn around, Remy, don't turn around. I need to get out of here. The door is closed. I'm in panic. I smash my hands against the damn door to open it. Please, somebody help me! _"Open the door! Open the door!"_ – I howl hysterically. I know nobody comes to rescue me. I feel a man's hand on my shoulder… _"Want to have some fun, bitch?"_

Thirteen woke up with a gasp. For some seconds she didn't understand where she was. Then she saw Dr. Cameron gripping her by the shoulders: _"It's OK. You're in the hospital. Everything's all right, Remy."_

She looked at Thirteen with that unbearable sorrow in her eyes trying to soothe the patient.

"_Yeah… Yeah… I'm fine,"_ – said Hadley and pressed her head against the pillow. She realizes that it was just a dream, a nightmare but she also knows that could happen to her after the accident. Her abdomen hurts as well as her head. The light is too bright for the eyes. She screws them up. Cameron arranges the pillows and makes an injection of a depressant.

"_Let me guess. Relanium, right?"_ – Thirteen asks.

"_Yes…"_ – the blonde doctor answers.

"_What an irony!"_ – Hadley smirks.

"_Why?.. I'm sorry, Remy, __for that what happened to you…"_ – Cameron looks sadly at her co-worker.

"_Call me Thirteen. This number just fits,"_ – Remy says roughly.

A nurse came with a tray. It was evening, dinner time. Cameron put the meal on the table and pushed it towards the bed.

"_I don't want to eat," _– Thirteen pushed the table away.

"_It is evening already. You haven't been eating since yesterday,"_ – Cameron insisted.

"_Just do me a favor, disappear!"_ – Remy said harshly.

"_Sorry, but you have to enjoy my company this night,"_ – the doctor replied.

"_Oh, yeah! How could I forget your leading part?! Playing mother Teresa today?! I said I'm fine! You can go find another pathetic and wounded. If I need somebody to tuck my blanket I'll call the nurse!"_ – Hadley hissed back.

"_I won't leave you, Remy. You'__re on the suicidal watch. I'm so sorry,"_ – she answered calmly.

"_Shit!"_ – Thirteen stroke her hands on the bed.

**Two days passed. House's office:**

Cuddy came in with a sullen look on her face.

"_House, please, go talk to her__! I can't do anything. She doesn't eat. She signed the form where she refuses medical assistance. I send psychiatrists to her, but she doesn't talk. She lies there as if she's a rock, a stone, I don't know. I ordered to give her glucose intravenously. She doesn't show any feelings,"_ – Dr. Cuddy reported.

House nodded and continued to play with the yo-yo.

"_House, did you hear me? She's dying!"_ – Lisa shouted.

"_Hey! Head's aching of you screaming here every day!"_ – he said irritated.

"_House, two days passed and you didn't even show up in her ward! Go, talk to her!"_ – Cuddy insisted.

"_To tell what?! Don't be such a milksop, forget about those stupid bastards and what they've done to you, forget that you have Huntington, enjoy your life!"_ – he stood face to face with Cuddy shouting at her as if it was her mistake but not his. Cuddy turned around ready to leave.

"_Wait!"_ – House asked taking control of his emotions. "_Move her to another ward maybe it will work._"

Cuddy stopped to listen…

Cameron asks Thirteen to sit in a wheel chair. She says that they have to move. Hadley obeys. She is too pale and too tired to resist. She sees two beds in the ward. One is for her and a girl of 10 maybe 11 years old lies in the other bed. The girl's right eye is swollen as well as her lower lip. Thirteen notices bandages on her wrists and bruises on her neck. Her fair-haired head lies on the pillow. She is asleep but she moans from time to time in her sleep. Cameron helps Remy to lie down. She makes sure all the IV tubes are working well and she leaves the room.

**Thirteen:**

Wow! Has she just left the room or am I hallucinating? I won at last. They have left me alone. Great! No more stupid questions, no more soothing discussions. If they moved me to another patient it means that they've given up on me. I can lie here in piece till I die.

She closed her eyes to have a little rest. Thirteen woke up to the noise of somebody's weeping. It was the girl, she sobbed behind the curtain that divided one patient from the other. Dr. Hadley lied in her bed for several minutes listening to the poor girl's crying, until it bothered her. She stood up maybe too quickly because everything went dark before her eyes for awhile. Her ribs hurt and the abdominal pain was acute. She felt herself dizzy, though she made two steps and opened the curtain. The child was crying hiding her face in the pillow.

"_Hey, are you OK? Where does it hurt?"_ – she asked in an usual doctor's tone.

"_I'm fine. Sorry to wake you up," – _said the girl.

"_My name's Remy. What's yours?"_ – she asked looking into the dark brown eyes.

"_Joel,"_ – the girl answered.

"_Who beat you?"_ – Thirteen studied the marks on girl's face.

"_Nobody."_

"_Don't lie to me I'm a doctor. I've seen a lot of swollen eyes and bruises in my life," –_ Remy replied waiting for the reaction.

"_I wasn't beaten, I was raped,"_ – she said in a soft voice and started to cry again.

Hadley couldn't believe in the words she's just heard. It was a child. What kind of pervert could have done that to this innocent girl? Where is the justice? She sat down on the side of the girl's bed and took her little palm in her hand. Thirteen noticed how skinny the child's arms were. To be this skinny the girl mustn't have been eating for weeks. Suddenly Joel started to suffocate. Remy immediately took the pillows under girl's head to lower the position. She called the nurses and started the intubation. After few minutes the girl lied unconscious but stable. Dr. Cameron was already in the room asking Thirteen to lie in her bed. Hadley took the girl's records and began to read them. Alison covered the patient with the blanket making attempts to get the file back. Finally she managed to do that.

"_Give it back! I need to know what happened to her!"_ – Remy asked firmly.

"_You are not her doctor. You're a patient, so behave like a patient!"_ – Cameron scolded her.

"_Listen, if I know the case maybe I can help,"_ – she said looking pleadingly at the blonde doctor.

"_You'll have the file after you eat __your dinner."_

"_Manipulator!"_

"_No file then,"_ – Cameron said taking the records with her.

"_Wait!__.. Fine!.."_ – said Remy sending poor doctor a killing look and plopping on her pillows.

Dr. Cameron came with a tray of food. Everything looked really delicious, especially for the patient who hasn't been eating in days. Alison put the tray in front of Hadley and sat on a chair near her bed.

"_You may go, I remember how to use a fork,"_ – Remy said sarcastically.

"_Good for you. I remember not to trust__ the depressive patients,"_ – Cameron screwed her eyes staring at Hadley.

Thirteen took a deep breath and began to eat: _"Maybe you'll tell me about the girl if you are watching anyway."_

Cameron shook her head: _"Believe me, it is not a table talk."_

"_Try me. I can handle anything__,"_ – she said taking another bite of salad.

"_Funny to hear such words from __the woman who is destroying herself," _–Cameron smiled.

"_Yeah, hysterically funny to know you're dying,"_ – Remy told in a soft voice.

"_Remy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"__ –_ she wanted to apologize.

"_Tell me what's happened to the girl,"_ – Hadley demanded tired to hear other people saying they know how she's feeling and how they are sorry for her. Nobody could understand the pain and loneliness she was in.

"_The police called the ambulance which brought her here. __They found the girl in the basement where she was hanged by the hands to the ceiling. Her toes were barely touching the ground. According to her utter exhaustion they didn't give her any food. She has been raped but the most monstrous thing that her insane aunt did to her was…"_ – she took a deep breath because she didn't know how to end the sentence. _"The police came when her aunt was cutting out the girl's clitoris,"_ – Dr. Cameron concluded. Remy looked at her with eyes full with tears. Then she got up and rushed to the bathroom. She was vomiting.

"_Yes, that was my first reaction too,"_ – told Cameron watching Thirteen getting out of the bathroom as pale as a ghost.

"_How old is she?"_ – Remy asked.

"_Eleven.__ Come on, you need to rest," – _she said setting the IV tubes to their places again.

"_Give me the file,"_ – Hadley asked in a whisper.

"_Remy, she is Dr. Simon's patient we can't interfere in the medical treatment,"_ – Alison notified.

"_We are here for 30 minutes and I haven't seen any doctor checking her yet._ _She had a problem with breathing. It has nothing to do with what has happened to her," _– Remy replied.

"_Or it was an asthmatic assault which is connected with her depressive state and especially her nervous system," _– Cameron concluded.

"_Maybe __we stop guessing and you'll give the case to Dr. House?"_ – Thirteen asked.

Cameron took the records and went to House's office.

**House's office few minutes later:**

House sat at his computer watching something interesting according to his facial expression. Cameron came into the room throwing the file on the table.

"_You was right, she became interested in this girl. The problem is the girl is dying," _– she spoke.

"_OK, go, give the file to Dr…"_ – he looked on the file, - _"Simon, oh, the best gynecologist in our hospital."_

"_House, the patient was choking. Thirteen made the intubation. Dr. Simon hasn't even __come to check on her," –_ she waved her hands.

"_You know doctors. They are always busy,"_ – he said staring at her for a long time.

"_What!"_ – she asked.

"_Do you think I'm going to check on the patient, who isn't mine patient at all only to see how Thirteen is doing?"_ – he asked cleverly.

"_House, I've worked for you for three years, do you expect me to be stupid?__ You have Foreman and Taub to do the examination and tests."_ – Cameron fired back tired of this game. She left the room leaving Dr. House deep in thoughts.

**House's office ****five hours later:**

Foreman reported on the patient: _"X-rays showed cysts in lungs. She has Pneumocystis pneumonia. I've given her trimethoprim but with her anorexia. She can't eat at all. And the loss of the patient will be dead in two or three days."_

"_Does Thirteen know about it?" –_ House asked his co-worker.

"_No, we__ ran the tests twice to be sure. I haven't told even the patient yet,"_ – Foreman said feeling himself really exhausted.

"_Fine, go home. It's midnight already,"_ – House replied looking at the results.

After Foreman left the office House went to the ward. He came silently into the room making as less noise as possible. Thirteen and the girl were sleeping. He sat on a chair near Thirteen's bed. House watched her sleeping. He was sitting there till 4 o'clock in the morning when Hadley woke up from a nightmare as usual. She sat in her bed trying to calm down. The effect of the painkillers was over and she was in pain again. Thirteen turned on the light and saw House staring at her.

"_What are you doing here?"_ – she asked hiding herself under the blanket.

"_Sitting,"_ – was the answer.

"_How's Joel?"_ – she asked wanting to see girl's face hidden from her by the curtain.

"_Who?"_ – he asked again.

"_The patient you've been diagnosing,"_ – Remy replied irritated.

"_She's dying,"_ – House said tiredly.

"_What? No, she can't… What's wrong with her?"_ – she asked getting herself together.

"_Pneumocystis pneumonia, her CD4 positive cell levels are less than __200 cells/μl, I think you know what that means." _Hadley nodded.

"_Don't tell her,"_ – she said and lied back on her pillows. House left the room without any word.

Joel was awake. She breathed hardly and a tube went right to her lungs to ease her breathing a little. She couldn't talk to Remy so she wrote in a notebook given her by the doctor.

"Know any fairy-tales?" – the girl wrote.

"Fairy-tales? Hm... Let me see," – Remy tried to remember at least one but medical university erased all the fairy-tales from her mind. "Ok, listen..." – she thought maybe she could make one for the dying girl.

"_Once upon a time __in a small town lived a girl and her mother. Girl's mother was ill and she couldn't give her little child as much attention as she wanted. The girl grew up arrogant and cruel. People called her Demon. No matter where she went she left a trace of ruined lives and lost hopes. She was born to get on everyone's nerves. Demon made many bad things. Her mother was long gone and she did whatever she wanted to. One day people got angry at her and captured the girl. Furious crowd was ready to tear every single piece of life from Demon. She was completely taken aback. One man of the crowd said that if anybody would stand up for her she would be free. Demon was wringing her hands and eyes full of horror and sadness begged for help but the blunt crowd made a fair division. The girl who brought only sorrow and anger must die. Thousands of ruined lives for the sake of her ambitions and victories were too much for the suffering people. Suddenly somebody took her by the hand and that very moment Demon knew that she saved herself a trouble to fight the duel alone. Mother looked into the eyes of her child and hugged her. She came on Earth to save her daughter and she took her away from the furious crowd,"_ – Hadley finished the story.

"_Great story,"_ –Joel wrote. _"Don't leave me..."_ – was the last phrase of the girl.

This night Joel died and after few hours when the girl's corpse was taken into the morgue Dr. Hadley died in her bed because her heart stopped beating...

"_There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret, Spilt on the ground like water, an can never be gather together."_

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


End file.
